Application advice

Comments

• canihazJD Alum Member Sage ⭐

  October 2020 8491 karma

  Obviously a higher score would help for T14 but it also sounds like your background could help you outperform your numbers if you craft a good app. I'd apply anywhere you'd attend + peer schools.
• cjb297 Member

  October 2020 43 karma

  Why did you say you know application numbers are going to be up this year? If anything, I would think that the virus would cause applications to go down. Of course, this is just my speculation and not based upon any facts at all lol.
• VerdantZephyr Member ⭐

  October 2020 2054 karma

  @cjb297 Applications to all graduate and professional schools typically go up in times of economic downturn. Compounding that most people have more free time to consider their future, may not be working, and have more free time to prepare for the LSAT and law school. Compared to last year at this same time the number of applications is up between 50 and 60%

  @thegidkid Your additional academic credentials are definitely going to help. However, those numbers are below median at all T14 schools and, without additional non-quantitative factors I think you are going to struggle to get admission in the T14. If you can retake the LSAT and improve your score you have a better shot. As for T25 I think you are in excellent shape. 165 is the median at Notre Dame and Minnesota and is a point above the median at ASU and Florida. At GW and Boston it is a point below but I think your STEM Masters degree should make up for that. This is even more true if you have some work experience.

  I would encourage you to look at the 25-35 range as well. After the low 20's there is so much parity that schools bounce around a lot from year to year in rankings anyway. Many schools that are ranked below 25 this year perform similarly or better than those in the top 25 career wise. 21 Minnesota and 24 ASU for example have much lower salary stats than 27 UNC, 27 Iowa, and 31 Washington and Lee. The type of law or location you are interested in should be the motivating factor when choosing which 20's to 30's program you are interested in. I would also say, when comparing salary numbers, make sure you recognize how much cost of living affects real take home pay. Maybe a school places a lot of grads into NYC, but your BigLaw grad from U of Texas working in Houston makes more take home pay at 160,000 a year than your NYU grad making 190,000k in NYC. You are better off making 160,000 in North Carolina (which, depending on what sort of STEM background you have might be a good spot) than chasing better pay in DC, California, or NYC. I encourage you to look at Above the Law's rankings as well as the US News ones that unfortunately dominate most discussions.

  Certain schools also have enormous local value. Being from North Carolina, I can tell you that if you look at judges and congress people from NC you will see a major trend and that nearly all of them went to UNC law despite the fact that Duke (and Wake Forest) are also in NC. Duke might be a more powerful degree overall, but they are a national school and only a minority remain instate. I would imagine this advice is even more true somewhere like Iowa, which lacks any major competition in the state. If you want to practice in a specific location not named DC, Boston, NYC, Chicago, or California find out what school dominates the local/regional market. Even if they are ranked 38th, they might be a better decision than a higher or even much higher ranked school. The added benefit is, of course, that you will be higher above their medians and more likely to get major scholarship offers from them.

  If you do not have a specific type of law or location already picked out and want BigLaw in a big city or federal clerkship no matter what, definitely work on improving that LSAT for a better shot at T14, but I think you are already in a very advantageous place for a school in that second tier that can really launch a great career. This is especially true if you are able to combine your masters STEM background with your future law background.